Let Go

As the light slowly dims
And day turns to night
Your happiness gently slims
And your self-confidence falls,
Sometimes, self-worth isn't meant to fly
And nothing can save you now-
Not the rain or the wind
Nor the swift rise and fall of your heart in pain
Will teach you otherwise.
We all suffer alone in this life
It's just the way the blood falls
When we lay down our knife
Down, spiraling out of control,
But I see the hurt in your eyes,
I see the agony you carry,
I know how it begs,
I know how it feels;
And others choose to pray
Thinking that as they sit on their heals
Life will turn around
And gravity will work the other way
But the blood still falls down,
And the hurt never fades;
So the rest is up to us to remember,
And then, let go.

PUBLISH YOUR OWN BOOK OF POETRY

Editor’s Note

The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”